Straya thread part 5 - scallops and slippery dips

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Turns out Hobart is pretty nice, at least on first impressions.

And lulz at Tony Abbott missing the Greens' point about gendered toys and illustrating the exact mentality that is the problem with his "let boys be boys and girls be girls" response.
 
Poor guy really.

There was obviously zero expectation from him or his party that he would actually be elected. He must feel like he has walked into a completely different world.
 
Clive Palmer on Kitchen Cabinet right now is just... bizarre and surreal.
 
I liked that part where he burned down Jurassic Park as a result of his bad cooking skills and begged Jeff Goldblum on the phone to bring the dinosaurs back.
 
Clive Palmer on Kitchen Cabinet right now is just... bizarre and surreal.

Clive Palmer anywhere anytime is pretty much bizarre and surreal. To the point where I find myself wondering how he ever amassed his (nominal) fortune to begin with. Is there some rule that mining goes hand in hand with wacked-out populist politics and megalomania?

Not that Clive's politics seem explicitly reactionary in the Gina Rhinehart mould (though there is certainly some of that; he did wish to name his party the United Australia Party at the beginning)... I think it's mostly all just about Clive, and any ensuing weirdness can be attributed to that.

Well at least now we know what the Australian version of Ross Perot would have looked like.
 
I can't even bring myself to hate him, like I would other bourgeois figures. He's just too much of a caricature of a capitalist for me to take seriously, there's no imminent sense or fear of danger with him, I just wait for him to have another egotistical tantrum whilst taking another sip of tea.
 
Well no, he isn't a dangerous political figure, as I see it.

Fact is, the man's an idiot with money (which may or may not strictly be his) to splash around.
 
A good rundown on the state of play from a blogger/commentator that I respect:

John Quiggin » Broken promises and budget anger …

As its first full year draws to a close, the disarray of the Abbott government is obvious to all, and easy enough to understand in terms of broken promises from a government that came to office almost entirely on the basis of branding its opponents as liars. Only slightly less obvious, but much less well understood is the disarray of the entire political process, reflected in wild electoral swings, the success of ‘anti-political’ candidates and the breakdown of the assumption that a newly elected government can expect at least two terms in office.

This disarray in turn reflects the exhaustion of the project that has dominated Australian politics since the 1980s, and the rejection of that project by the electorate. Variously described as economic rationalism, microeconomic reform and (my own preferred term) market liberalism, the set of policies comprising deregulation, privatisation and competition policy was, in some respects, a necessary response to the economic breakdown of the 1970s. But whatever was useful in that agenda has long since been implemented, along with much that was harmful. What remains is an unthinking assumption on the part of the political elite that adherence to this agenda is the hallmark of good policy, whereas following the wishes of a democratic electorate is irresponsible populism.
 
Ah yes, I read that in its Guardian version and found it a very good piece. :up:
 
So it turns out that the Ukrainian chocolate oligarch is in Australia, seems like they've been keeping it quiet since they're dedicating so little of the news to the visit.
 
hi AUssies!
just found Cori Barnette and her Band! :hyper:

fordum univ just played a ?July 14 live gig at their radio station
a few weeks back.

in fact they've been playing something from their latest on the station which I recognized
when they played it last

liked what I was hearing a lot from the get go....
 
Courtney Barnett? She is fantastic.

I'm back, all. Glad to see the Greens get two seats. Although it was infuriating to see ALP members start a hashtag "better Clem than them". Fucking arseholes are insufferable.
 
Across the road. Their studio has been evacuated.

There are also reports that the Opera House has been evacuated due to the discovery of a suspicious package.

An Arabic flag was being shown in the windows and most right-wing media were quick to label it an IS flag, which it apparently is not. The flag was moved to a more prominent place in the window, suggesting captors have the news on in the cafe.

Everything is just sickening.
 
Trains were shut down but are now running past Martin Place. The U.S. has told Aus to storm the place right now as after they have enough exposure all hostages will be executed.

Personally, my wife's office is in total lockdown and mine is poised to be. Fucking scary.
 
I'm just going to stop saying things, I'm just following twitter and there is so much speculation and a lot of horribly stupid tweeting going on.

Thinking of you and the mrs MS. Scary day.
 
We'll be fine, thanks, worst that will happen to us today is a scrum of a commute home.

Agree that this is not the place for a FYM discussion. Let's just hope that the worst doesn't happen for those taken hostage.
 
Holy shit this is pretty scary. Apparently one of the terrorists placed a call to Ray Hadley.

Though some of the responses are pretty baffling: Queensland, for example, have put all available police on the streets despite there being no indications of a threat to the state. Hey WA, you better pull over all red cars because I hear one was involved in a robbery in Tasmania.
 
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